Slavery in the colonial United States
The origins of slavery in the colonial United States are complex and there are several theories that have been proposed to explain the trade. It was largely tied to European colonies' need for labor, especially plantation agricultural labor in their Caribbean sugar colonies operated by Great Britain, France, Spain and the Netherlands.
Most slaves that went to the Thirteen Colonies that became the United States were imported from the Caribbean, not directly from Africa. They arrived in the Caribbean predominately as a result of the Atlantic slave trade. Although slavery of indigenous peoples also occurred in the North American colonies, by comparison it was less important. Thereafter, slave status for Africans usually became hereditary.
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American History USA Articles
- The Atlantic Slave Trade to the United States
By any measure, the Atlantic slave trade was one of the great human crimes of the last thousand years. - Elizabeth Key Grinstead, the Freedom Suit, and Colonial Virginia
Elizabeth Key Grinstead was one black woman who sued and won her freedom in early Colonial Virginia. Such cases were soon put to an end. - Slave North -- "Slavery in Rhode Island"
Slavery was practiced in Rhode Island until the early 19th century, and that state's merchants also played a key role in the transatlantic slave trade.
Books/Sources
- A portraiture of domestic slavery, in the United States: with reflections on the practicability of restoring the... - Jesse Torrey
- Indian Slavery in Colonial Times Within the Present Limits of the United States - Wheeler, Lauber, Almon
